Hope
by Michi the Mischievous
Summary: Fleur and Hermione learn something painful from their lover's past


Rating: R

Spoilers: None

Pairing: Fleur/Hermione/?

Disclaimer: "Concrete Angel" belongs to Martina McBride and co. not I.

Distribution: Just ask the worst I could do is say no.

Warning: This is a disturbing fic with severe childabuse/neglect and character death. It's also a cross-over.

A/N: Thank you, Moni for inspiring/pushing me to do this fic. (the pushing really is a good thing LOL)

A/N2: There is no sound to the scenes in the room while ? is singing. Extremely AU!! Taking very much w/ the artist liberty. This is not beta'd so in the near future it will be reposted. The other disclaimer shall be at the end of this post as I refuse to give away the third person in this triad.

_**Denotes singing**_

Italics and / denotes scenes/memories changing.

Once Fleur's classes were over and she had finished her workout in the gym, she headed to the library to find one of her two lovers. She doesn't bother to look around once she enters the room she knows right where Hermione will be. Spying her lover in her usual spot she comes up behind her, wraps her arms around her, and kisses her just below ear. Hermione leans back into her arms and purrs deep in her throat.

"Bon jour, mon amour, 'ow did 'our classez go?"

"Fine and yours? Where is that that bloody woman of ours? We're supposed to study today for her exam this Friday and I wanted to get it out of the way before lunch so the three of us might spend the afternoon together."

"Zey went alright, but I am worried. She waz up and gone before even I –" Fleur pressed a finger to Hermione's lips when it looked like she was going to interrupt. "And non, not on ze balcony doing 'er zai chi either. Nor did she show up for our daily workout. I zink we need to look for 'er."

"I second that idea, love." She quickly turns her head and gives Fleur a quick kiss. Suddenly just as worried as Fleur, Hermione starts packing her stuff up hurriedly. It wasn't unusual for their lover to occasionally blow off a study session, it was like she was allergic to studying, but it was completely unlike her to blow off all three things. Especially her tai chi, for as long as both Fleur and Hermione had known their girlfriend she had never blown that off and only rarely blew off her training sessions.

Holding hands, the two make their way quickly to the Gryffindor tower and the dorm they shared with only the third in their triad. So they may drop Hermione's books off so they won't slow the girls down in their search for their lover.

They searched all the common places where she'd be when she didn't want to be found, they then turned to their lover's uncommon places with no more luck, desperately they tried the rare and secret places she'd go and they fared no better than before. By this time they were so frantic they had a white knuckle grip on each other's hand, and were searching every where high and low and asking every person they passed, no matter the house, whether they had seen their lover. Their worry was turning into out right fear.

Heading up to the third floor to Dumbledore's office, the moving staircases can be a bitch sometimes; they actually managed to literally run into the man.

"Ah, there you are ladies I was just on my way to find you." Dumbledore said after he steadied them from the run in. For the first time in all the six years Hermione has been attending Hogwarts Dumbledore did not even have a hint of the usual twinkle in his eyes. He actually looked the most grave and sad in her memory. All this did was make her heart pound harder and compound her fear for her missing lover. This translated to her tightening her grip even harder on the lover that was in her presence, alerting Fleur to the fact that something was seriously wrong. Causing her fear to intensify to the nth degree and simultaneously sending a cold shiver down her spine.

"Does this have to do with why –" Hermione tried to keep an even tone, but her voice cracked as her imagination run rampant of all the things that could have happened to their lover.

"Yes," Dumbledore interrupted reaching into his robes and pulled some folded cloth out and held it out to the two girls. "You'll be needing this, now hurry and head to the Room of Requirement she'll be there soon. And you have to get there before her if you're to have a chance of understanding what is going on."

"What iz –" As Hermione took the cloth from the headmaster.

"Harry's invisibility cloak, my dear, now go." He shooed them and continued on his way down the hall looking pensive.

They let go of each other and race to said room, once there they swiftly entered and looked around. At the moment it was completely bare.

"Where do think we should…." Hermione trails off when she notices Fleur quirking an eyebrow.

"I zink juzt about any where, mon amour, but zere would be bezt." She gestured to the left hand corner of the room on the same wall as the door. Hermione raises on her toes and kisses her girlfriend. They go to the corner and Fleur puts herself closest to the wall, pulls Hermione's back to her chest, takes the cloak from her and wraps it around them before scooting all the way back into the corner where both shoulders meet the two walls. They settle in to wait for their missing lover.

As Faith enters the room, the first thing they notice is that the room has automatically transformed into a completely filthy and disgusting run down apartment. What they see shocks and horrifies them beyond all capabilities of reason, they almost can't believe anyone could or would live in such squalor. It breaks their hearts knowing they shouldn't be in such disbelief seeing as even to this day some people still can't afford to live anywhere else than the slums similar to this one and even worse, though there's not much worse than this one other than the streets themselves.

The walls were stained from water damage with different sizes of holes here and there, the carpet in the living room was worn, thread bare and so faded there was no non-magical way to guess at its original color. For furniture there was only a worn broken down couch an end table at each side of it and a coffee table sitting in front. There was nothing in the tiny kitchen except for torn up wall paper, cracked and peeling linoleum on both the floor and the counter tops extremely old appliances that looked as if they've never been washed since the first day they were installed, peeling paint on the cupboard doors which quite a few were only hanging on by one hinge and a few broken dishes, though oddly bent spoons seem to be quite profuse. They didn't see any food at all, and for all the lack of washed surfaces in the room there seemed to be no garbage though. The only thing they could see of the bathroom was the cracked mirror and severely chipped porcelain sink. And two closed doors they assumed led to bedrooms as kitty corner to their right was the front door. The décor theme appeared to be empty beer and liquor bottles along with used syringes all over the floors, end tables and counters. The only things on the coffee table were a piece of broken mirror, a razor blade, a chipped coffee mug with water in it, a pile of cigarettes with no filters, a belt, and one of those oddly bent spoons. The weirdest thing of all though was the flat black baby grand piano, facing the room so they had a profile view of it, in the corner opposite of where they were standing.

Their girlfriend sitting down at the piano draws their attention away from the room and to her, she is dressed in way they have never seen before. While her hair in a low pony tail wasn't exactly a new look nor the all black. It was the silk button down dress shirt, silk dress slacks, and flat black dress shoes that was surprising.

When they finally raised their eyes to Faith's face neither could hold back their gasps. The look of indescribable pain on her face made them feel as if their very own hearts were being cut in half with a serrated blade while still beating in their chests. The longing to go to their love, wrap her in their arms and hold and comfort her until the look faded from her face damn near made them leave their corner, but there was something deep inside telling them to wait. That it wasn't yet time for that.

Faith slowly closes her eyes and lays her hands on the keyboard and her feet on the pedals waiting. As some soft notes start to drift into the room from somewhere they couldn't identify two things happen: one, silent tears start to fall from their lover and two, the bedroom door closest to them opens up stealthily before two little girls who appear to be around the age of seven step out of the room.

They only got a quick second to take the two in, but they caught a lot in that second. Even though it was kind of confusing, the two girls were identical twins. The confusing part was that both girls' left eyes were green and the right eye brown instead of both being brown or green. And although both were extremely skinny, the one on the left seems to have just that little bit more weight to her than the one on the right, even if it was a miniscule amount. There was also one other thing that seemed to make it possible to tell them apart if you look close enough. It wasn't physical either, the left girl appeared more fragile, rounder, gentle and calm while the girl on the right was the complete opposite hardier, angular, fiercer and restless. If it weren't for the eye color they would swear the girl on the right was Faith, maybe the girls where their lover's little sisters and if so, why hadn't they been told about the siblings? Again that deep thing inside spoke, wait, watch.

Suddenly Faith starts playing the piano and soon starts singing. And not in her husky alto voice they're used to hearing from her, but a light haunting soprano, making them ache even more for her.

_**She walks to school with the lunch she packed  
Nobody knows what she's holdin' back**_

_/The softer of the two girls stands at the counter looking at the empty bread bag with a look on her face that could not be read then carefully puts three slices bread with only butter on them in a plastic grocery bag, while the sharper one appears to stand guard at the kitchen doorway watching with an eagle eye on an older emaciated version of them passed out on the couch. They stealthily make their way out of the apartment./_

_**Wearin' the same dress she wore yesterday  
She hides the bruises with linen and lace oooh oh**_

_/As the older woman roughly grabs the gentle girl's upper arm leaving a nasty bruise the harsher girl, sporting many more bruises; multiple cuts on her face and arms, rockets into the woman's waist drawing the adult's attention back to her and away from the other girl. After getting knocked back she subtly signals her sister to head for their room. Sitting on the thin padding of blankets next to her sleeping sister, who is against the wall, the angular twin carefully sews the new rips in her sibling's dress by the light of a battered flashlight that the batteries were starting to die in./_

_**The teacher wonders but she doesn't ask  
It's hard to see the pain behind the mask**_

_/Both girls sit in the back of the class their desks next to each other, one with a serene smile on her face and straight posture, the other slouched with a bored expression hands stuffed in her jean pockets./ /In a corner on the playground at what is clearly lunchtime the two girls sit together under a tree, they are both eating a slice of buttered bread and when they're both done, the bored one hands her sister the third and last slice when she goes to refuse it, the skinny one scowls fiercely so she takes it tears it in half and stubbornly forces her sister to take the other half./_

_**Bearing the burden of a secret storm  
Sometimes she wishes she was never born**_

_/The sweeter twin hides behind their bedroom door, with tears streaming down her face, as she watches through the crack as her mother brutally beats her sister. Suddenly the mother looks up at the apartment door and leaves off the beating to answer it. As soon as her back is turned the two suddenly move in perfected synchronization; the beaten girl scrambles into the bedroom shutting the door quickly as her sister darts into the closet while the other, after closing the door, throws open the window and joins her sister in the closet. Holding their breath they hear their door open then just as suddenly closes, with a skill far too perfect for her age the one twin cleans up her sister then cuddles her close soothing her gently to sleep./_

_**Through the wind and the rain  
She stands hard as a stone**_

_**In a world that she can't rise above**_

_/The nameless one gets shoved by an older boy on the playground which forces her to take a step back and just as suddenly her twin flies out of nowhere and bloodies his nose, as he runs off she turns frantically to her sister to see if she is alright and it is plain that the softer sister softly reassures her./_

_  
**But her dreams give her wings  
And she flies to a place where she's loved  
Concrete angel**_

_/It's night and both are sitting on their sad excuse for a bed, the protective one is leaning against the wall, paying close attention; holding the same battered flashlight over her sister's shoulder, who is leaning against her chest while reading from a ratty fairytale book. A vision appears above the girls showing, what she is reading a handsome knight rescuing her as a beautiful female knight rescues her sister./_

_**Somebody cries in the middle of the night  
The neighbors hear, but they turn out the light**_

_/Again they're in their bedroom at night only this time they are sharing a dinner of pork and beans out of the can when their mother suddenly kicks the door off the hinges with a heavy pipe in her hand; swinging with what appears to be all her might; hitting the fiercer twin across the side of her head sending her flying across the room and through the closet door. This is the first and only time since her mother first hit her that she didn't get back up./ /Outside the tenement the lights of the apartment next door are quickly shut off./_

_**A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate  
When morning comes it'll be too late**_

_/When the girl who got hit first finally comes back around in, what by the angle of the sun, to be mid-morning she weakly crawls to the bloody and broken body of her sister, gently reaching out a shaking hand she touches her sister. Upon feeling the cold skin, she rises to her knees and gathers the body to her chest howling in complete and utter despair written clearly on her face./_

_**Through the wind and the rain  
She stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above**_

_/Outside of a convenient store the skinny twin desperately begs for change from customers and passer-bys while her sister sits stoically on the curb. After getting chased off by the owner, they head down the street and when the panhandler goes to sneakily pickpocket a person her twin subtly pulls her away and frowns at her twin who sighs and shrugs ruefully./ /They stake out a corner, again with panhandler doing her thing while her sister watches her carefully so she doesn't get anymore clever ideas./_

_**But her dreams give her wings  
And she flies to a place where she's loved  
Concrete angel**_

_/Sitting at a McDonalds a rare happy meal apiece, the restless one listens intently as her sister talks and waves one of her hands to illustrate her points. Above the two is another vision of what she's saying; it shows the two of them in a dorm room chatting and giggling as they seem to be doing homework./_

_**A statue stands in a shaded place  
An angel girl with an upturned face**_

_/Standing in front of a gravestone with an angel kneeling, looking up to the heavens is the stronger appearing twin dressed all in black, and nicely for the first time in her life, with a stark white bandage covering the entire side of her head above her ear. Her only companion a woman, obviously no relation what so ever, dressed all in tweed. The girl leans forward and softly kisses the angel's cheek and brushes its other cheek with her hand, shoulders shaking from crying./_

_**A name is written on a polished rock  
A broken heart that the world forgot**_

_/A slightly older, version of the girl is at the gravestone, again in all black, she's weeding and cleaning the plot from all debris, during this she turns enough for it to be noticeable that suddenly both of her eyes are brown instead of one being green and on her left bicep is an overly familiar tribal tattoo. All the while cleaning she talks to the statue like it was a living entity, once it's completely clear and she's done talking she kisses its cheek and brushes the other cheek with a hand as the sun finishes setting./ /Walking up the steps of an upper-class townhouse upon entering Faith's watcher starts demanding something of her looking utterly frustrated. Faith doesn't look at her merely flipping her off and heads upstairs into a bedroom; flopping down on the bed she pulls out a picture from her nightstand. With tears silently falling from her eyes she stares at it and lovingly runs her thumb over her sister's face./_

_**Through the wind and the rain  
She stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above**_

_/The girls watch carefully through their cracked door as their mother prepares a syringe, flicking it to get the air bubbles out; she uses a belt to tie off her upper arm. Faith quietly shuts the door, leads her sister out the window and helps her down the fire escape./ /The gentle girl stands to the side of a dumpster behind a restaurant placidly looking around, occasionally watching the rats scurry around. When Faith pops up from inside the dumpster holding two foil packages aloft like prizes she won at the county fair, her sister giggles at Faith./_

_**But her dreams give her wings  
And she flies to a place where she's loved  
Concrete angel**_

_/They lay side by side in a park watching the clouds lazily drift by as the dreamer again spins her fairytales for Faith who is absorbed in what her sister is saying. In this vision they are both fully grown lounging comfortably around a pool behind a large house. A shadowy handsome male and shadowy beautiful female exit the house both holding a couple of drinks and head towards the twins, the woman sits next to Faith's legs, leans over and kisses her before handing over the extra drink. While the man sets his drinks on the table between the lounges he picks up the other twin while giving her a deep kiss then quickly turns and sprints for the pool and jumps in with her in his arms. As the two come up for air the Faith and her woman are laughing hysterically at the guy's prank./_

As both Faith's playing and the background music gently comes to an end, the room slowly melts into a serene cemetery. She stands, the piano fading away, she makes her way to an extremely over grown gravestone. She kneels at its base and slowly starts cleaning the weeds and brush away from it. And at the same time this is happening in the room, at a cemetery across an ocean in a city called Boston the true headstone is also being cleaned up.

Both, Hermione and Fleur feel Faith's pain as their own, they willingly embrace it, such is their bond with the third piece of their souls. They care not that their faces and clothes are soaked through with tears. Fleur silently drops the cloak as Faith finishes with clearing away nature's attempt at covering the reminder of an angel whose life should never ended so.

"That was my first, my biggest, absolute worst and most unforgivable mistake I have ever made in my life." Faith choked out in a strangled voice, causing her girlfriends to jump three feet in the air. They were surprised that she knew they were there, though they shouldn't have been, seeing as she could feel them just as they could feel her. Slowly making their way to her, she turns and looks at them, they gasp simultaneously as they see one green eye and one brown eye, overflowing with pain, watching them approach.

"I got the contacts because it got to be too painful to look in the mirror everyday, knowing that if I had just remained conscious after that hit she'd still be here to this day. The tribal was her favorite thing to doodle in class." She whispered so very softly, knowing they knew she had shown and now was telling them things she had never spoken out loud ever to anyone even herself. "That is the only song I have or ever will write."

As they reach her, she rises to her feet and steps back, Hermione slips her arm around her waist, while Fleur wraps her arm around her shoulders and together they hold her close to themselves.

"Hermione Granger, Fleur Delcour I'd like you to meet my twin sister and best friend I have ever had. Dreamer, I'd like you to meet my two soul-mates, Hermione Granger and Fleur Delcour." All three look down and read the headstone.

_**Hope **__**Síoraí**__** Lehane**_

"_**Forever A Dreamer, Eternally Cherished"**_

**June 12, 1991 – June 9, 1999**

Hermione tugs Faith down and has her sitting indian style before sitting on her lap and snuggling into her. Fleur kisses the top of both of their heads as she too sits on the ground spreading her legs around Faith, pulling the two of them to her chest and wrapping them in her arms as the room produces a comfortable backrest for her.

"Tell uz about 'er, we would like to get to know 'er better." Faith settles deeper in her arms and does as she's told

Several, who knows how many hours later the triad get up and stretch. Faith goes to the angel statue and performs her ritual, of "I love you" kiss and caress, that she has done since her first visit to her sister's grave, Hermione does the same and once Fleur has done so as well, they wish Hope a goodnight and quietly leave arms wrapped around each other.

Disclaimer: I do not own the HP characters nor do I own Faith, they belong respectfully to JK Rowling and co. and Joss and co.


End file.
